NetSlideshow…

NetSlideshow is an Android app to create slideshows from photos and videos not necessarily present in your Android device. This app has been around for a while, and I keep adding features now and then. See those below.

Please contact me with any bugs, comments or suggestions.

Current version

Please refer to the Google Play page for up to date information. Also, take the chance to rate it (specially if you enjoy it 🙂 ) and share it with friends. Here you have the links to Lite and Pro.

Version 2.0 changes

Finally an update! This project has remained in oblivion for far too long, and users kept requesting improvements so here they come:

– new, nicer UI

– better control of slideshow (previous/next/pause)

– show local content

– show content from RSS (you can now use Instagram, Flickr or any other service that supports RSS!)

This is my first application developed for Android, created as a personal need, for the entertaintment and the challenge it offered to work on such a project.

It allows watching photos (and videos) stored in a shared folder of a computer on the local network. Scans folders, displays shuffled or chronologically sorted content, from a date on…

My idea was to have a photo frame that wouldn’t take SD space (at least not the 15Gb my photo album has) and would stay up to date, connecting to the computer through wlan. I couldn’t find such functionality in any Android app so I decided to develop it myself. And then share… for free. As you can see, it’s very simple but gets the job done!

Version 0.8 changes

– Added simple file browser and ability to include multiple folders in the slideshow

This is just another update following users suggestions. The look and feel is not very polished but I just don’t want to spend time dealing with details.

Version 0.7 changes

– Status bar removed

As much as the unfair rating made by some russian guy annoyed me, he had a point regarding the status bar. If you are going to rate though, please first consider the following:

– I did this app for my own use. I then decided to pay the Google developer fee just to share it with the community for free and without ads because I felt it was a good chance to repay (a little bit) the community of developers that creates great stuff for free (or even a small fee/some ads).

– The interface does certainly not look great, but the goals of the app, I believe, are accomplished. I think that’s the ground for rating it, not the fact that it might not have a feature that you wanted.

– If you want some specific feature added or have some problem, please ask by mail.

Version 0.6 changes

– Fix for some contents not being indexed

– Limited image size to 6Mb

– Deleting imgBuffer folder on exit

– Keep screen light on (not sure how this will work with other devices)

– Code clean up and (hopefully) improved performance

– Other minor code fixes

Known issues

– Sometimes it won’t index again when you go to settings (you’ll have to restart the app)

ok, it does show fullscreen on my apad, but I’ll have a look at it when I get a chance (currently quite tied into development of game for tablets… should be available soon!). Current version for Netslide is 0.8

I see… I thought the issue referred to the titlebar still showing (only taking a small portion on the upper side), but I guess you are talking about the photos only taking a part of the screen, right?
I found out about that while developing a game (White glove), happening on Android 1.6 and later (my focus has always been 1.5, as that’s what I have on the tablet) and should be easy to fix (fingers crossed), I’ll go for it right now (yeah, even working on the 1st of january ;P )

I have downloaded Netslide today and I need to know what we have to inform on “Host” and “Path”. I have a home wifi named “AAA” and I want to access the folder “Fotos” on my drive named “BBB”. I did the following:
Host: AAA
Path: BBB/Fotos
Didn’t work.

You should set ‘Fotos’ as a shared folder so that other devices accessing the network can see it. Exactly how that’S done depends on the OS you are using, but if you are using Windows it should be something like right-clicking the folder and choosing ‘Share files…’ /’Sharing and security…’ (google ‘windows share folder’ for details).
Once that’s done you set the host to the name (or ip address) of that computer (NNN), not the wi-fi network name, and path to the name you used to share the folder (you can use the default, ‘Fotos’ in that case, or give the shared folder a different name). You won’t need to set the drive, as you will have already set Fotos as a network accessible folder when connecting to NNN.
This link might help.

Perfect! I changed the wifi name to IP Adress at Host, and I used only the name of shared folder on path (not the whole path). I suggest you to put those instructions on your site. Congratulations for your excellent work. It is really a great app. Tnx!

Thanks mate! 🙂
There’s no option to play one video in specific, but you can put such video on its own folder and select only that one.
On the other hand, you might want to try ES File explorer, it allows you to view/manage networked content (just not in a slideshow mode but a specific file, as opposed to what my app does)…

Thank you for this app. I’m using this app with my NAS on which i share a photo collection. Finaly i can see the photo’s on my tablet, using this app. Are you still developing this app? Here are some things i miss in the app:

– Photo’s : Longer delay (5 – 60 seconds) (how did you make a delay, sometimes two or three pictures skip in 2 seconds with the longest delay)

This is an impressive app. I can’t believe how out of all the photo frame apps on the Market, only yours can actually read from a network drive. And I like how it refreshes automatically when changes are made to the folder.

I’ve got a couple of questions:
1. What video formats does it support? I tried an AVI, but it didn’t recognize it.
2. Is there a way you can make it go straight into the slideshow so I can marry it with Tasker and use it as a screensaver?

Thanks! I actually couldn’t believe it myself either. After a good amount of research, trying different app options (even VNC alternatives), I had to code it myself.
Regarding your questions:
1.- Video formats are only limited by what your device can play with the built-in video player. Note that you might be able to play an avi file but not another, as it depends on the codec used to compress the avi (e.g. a divx avi file might work, but an xvid avi might not).
2.- Unfortunately, I don’t think that can be done unless I do some code changes, and I’m afraid I can’t dedicate time to that right now.

It’s a fantastic app you’ve made – super nice work! Very impressive!
However, I have a small request – Our tablet automatically starts a slide show up when it comes into its cradle, but this slideshow are pictures from our Picassa album – we would rather that it was Netslide app that started when our tablet came in its cradle – can it be done?

Hi!
I have found, what I’m searching for a long time! But I think the App has a little bug. In some folders my image files named “*.JPG” not “*.jpg” (only big letters). So the App repots “no contents to show”. It would be great, if you can implement also image files written in this way with big letters.
Thanks in advance!

First that is a great App… I use this fot All my private Photos and Videos… more then 15.000 Files starting from year 2000 till today with a WD lifebook. / Sony tablet z… with random i can See a lot of this…. but the Problem is that not All vodeos are runing… you Know long timeframe and generations of Video Files…. acouple of Videos are Not shown or with noices only and I Do Not See the File names… First please let me Know how i can See the filename / filename shower are still on / second may you are Not supporting All Types of Videos… wish One Not…
thanks in advance Siggi

thanks for the feedback Siggi!
Regarding the videos, the app can only play whatever the device natively supports (i.e. the default video player, without added software decoding, will have the same problems with those videos). As for the file data, it should be visible if you have the ‘Show file details’ checked in Settings and then tap the screen when content is shown.

I’ll have a look at the file details stuff and make sure it works for next release.
Once you get the those details you will be able to easily locate the original file and encode in a compatible format.

My preferred video player is MX Player (note that this won’t help Netslide play the videos, as it always uses native resources).

Hi loxai, in mean while I take investigation concerning the not runing Videos… I try the MX Player and for a couple of apps these Vidoes are working without thw HW Decoder (parameter in the MXPlayer). This apps ask wish VideoPlayer you wont… and thats works… But NetSlide will use th Default/default one… and the default VideoPlay on my Xperia Tablet is not going out… Please, can you ask in your app wish Player you wont… thks. in meanwhile the Filename are shown out of your app… thks a lot for that.
Siggi

Hi Siggi, I had a quick look at the alternative video player option. The change causes some issues and it would take a good amount of time to ensure it works well in all cases. I am afraid I cannot add this option at the moment, but will try and get it done at some point in the future. Sorry for the inconvenience

Hello! I’ve tried your app with a Sony Xperia Tablet Z and there seem to be a couple of problems:

I show pictures of my Synology NAS, Netslide reports 6636 pictures. After running for some time, maybe 10-15 pictures, the app hangs with the waiting cursor in the right upper corner. But, I can actually tap the screen and stop and start it up again. At first I thought this was a Lite-version limit – but the paid version also hangs.

Also, inbetween transitions, I get the Netslide logo on the screen. Is this suppose to show in the paid version??? If so I say please remove this……

Hi Together, Thks to bring it up … concerning the app hangs … I still try to implement this also on the Tablet Z, but I still waiting for the default Video Player … the default one works only with MP4 and a couple of AVI formats… but my Videos (clips) are going from AVI … MOV … MP4 and a couple of already converted one…
Jan, how do you have solved that problem ?

As discussed before, the only solution to play non native video codecs on tablet is either convert them or have the option to choose external video player in Netslide. I will add the latter at some point, but currently have higher priority tasks. Should have a more stable release this week.

Hello, I purchased the pro version of the app today and now it causes my tablet (.tabnero) to fc the app. Any suggestions? I’ve disabled every other process possible, even the keyboard but it still happens.

Just a quick comment to announce an update with a fix for the busy loop should be available in a few hours. Keep me posted if it got worse! (or, well, comments about how good it is are also accepted 😉 )

It would be nice, if the app could read the exif orientation information and rotate the picture if needed, ie if the app runs in portrait mode and the picture is non-portrait, rotate the picture that would be better than having to rotate the head 😉

Hello, i have tested the Netslideshow Pro version. It works nice, good work guys! I have a point upon the quality for the video. When you play the video without the Netslideshow Pro app on your Video Player or RK MultiPlayer, the colors are much richer than if you play the video via the Netslideshow Pro app. If play the video with the Netslideshow Pro app, it gives a kind of grey finish in the video. Can this be solved that the quality for the video can be the same as the normal Video Player outside the App?

Thank you for your feedback. I will have a look at the issue you mention. This grey finish, is it different to the grey tone of the menu bar (bottom) and file details (top, activated through settings)?

Such option is currently available on the Business edition. I plan to revise prices and update versions, stay tuned 🙂
Regarding the grey tone, could you please try to clear app data (from app manager) or uninstall/install and go through the tutorial process to see if that solves the problem?